Restaurant Has "No Screaming Children Sign"

[tropicsgoddess]

Due to the possible contentious nature of this topic, I felt that it was best to post this on Fratching versus Customerssuck.com. Long story short, this restaurant in Carolina Beach, NC has a sign posted up on it's window that says " Screaming Children Will NOT Be Tolerated". Here's the link to the story: http://www.myfox8.com/news/wghp-stor...,3040193.story. I applaud them for that since I wouldn't want to go to a restaurant and deal with some other parent's screaming child(ren) in the restaurant. If the kid's acting up, take them home. Simple as that, IMO. What are your thoughts on this?

[draco664]

EWs will take their kids, eat a meal, then tell them to scream so that they will be 'ejected' and not have to pay the tab.

[MaggieTheCat]

It says in the article that the employees will ask the parent(s) to take the screaming children outside until they've calmed down, and then come back in. Not asking them to leave the establishment for good. I'd be willing to bet that if a child started screaming at the end of a meal, the employees would simply ask the parents to pay up and then leave.

I think it's awesome. As stated, they're not kicking the parents and kids out, they're just asking the parents to take the kids outside till they stop screaming, and then they can come back in. They're not banned from the restaurant, they're not even asked to leave for good in the middle of their meal. I think it's win-win, but I'm sure some parents would disagree.

[blas87]

Hallelujah.

I'd love to go out to eat for once and not have to listen to screaming kids.

It's bad enough all week long, I have to deal with screaming machines and a manager/boss/shift leads who are running around like headless chickens screaming and bantering "OHMYGODTHISISDUETODAYWHYISTHISNOTDONE YET!" "OHMYGODWHYISTHISNOTDONE!" "WHEREISTHISITSDUETODAY!"

I just want some peace and relaxing on my days off.

[Anthony K. S.]

Wow. It takes a lot of courage to put up a sign like that.

I recall reading about a restaurant that put up a much gentler sign, simply saying that children should use their "in-door voices" when inside the restaurant, and that was enough to spark an angry backlash from some parents.


My guess is that the controversy here comes from people who insist on taking everything as if it's directed against them, personally.

By that, I mean the sort of customer who returns an item to a retail store and then gets offended when they're told that they can't get a cash refund without a receipt.

"They said that they can't give me cash because without a receipt, they don't know how it was paid for. And they said that after I TOLD them that I paid for it in cash!

I am extremely upset about this, because the implication is that I am being dishonest."

Another good example would be the woman who posted a letter on Planet Feedback complaining about a store that refused to accept her "starter check," which did not have a name or address pre-printed on it.

"I was being accused, tried, and convicted of having a stolen check."

Oh, brother.

So you're inevitably going to get parents complaining about signs like that because they take it as a personal affront. They look at the sign and view it as the restaurant accusing them, personally, of disrupting restaurants with screaming children.

Or, alternatively, they view it as the restaurant condemning ALL parents and children, when they obviously aren't.

"It has been a good thing for us," Armes told WECT-TV. "It has brought us in more customers than it has ever kept away."

I can imagine.

No doubt, some people would choose to take their business elsewhere, either because they are the parents with screaming children, or because they're the sort of people who think that everything is always about them.

But I, for one, would gladly give my business to a restaurant owner who has the courage to take a stand like that, and I'm sure I'm not alone.

[Akasa]

But I, for one, would gladly give my business to a restaurant owner who has the courage to take a stand like that, and I'm sure I'm not alone.

Nope not alone. I complain to management if a child is screaming and parents aren't making any attempts at quieting down their child. I point out I want a nice meal out and that includes ear drums in tact. They can either ignore screaming child or ask parents to do something about child, but if they choose to ignore I'm complaining.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Agreed. I actually have done that, once when my fiance and I were out for dinner. When we go out for dinner, it's not something we do all the time due to work and money constraints, so when we do visit a restaurant, we'd like to be able to eat our meal in peace and be able to converse with each other without our voices being drowned out by some child screeching. -.-

The time in question, we were out to celebrate our five years anniversary of being together when the child on the next table started its earsplitting concert. I asked a waiter to bring me the manager and I complained. The manager agreed with me, and told the mother to quiet her child or leave. She bitched at him, so he told her that she was causing a disturbance so he had every right to tell her to quiet her child. She eventually left; I doubt that the restaurant lost much seeing as she'd only ordered a starter and dessert, whereas my fiance and I went on to order a main meal, dessert and a lot of drinks.

I personally didn't see why someone would bring a child to that kind of restaurant; we're not talking a Harvester or any other family friendly restaurant, this was a fairly posh one. In any case, if your child can't or won't sit down and shut up during dinner, then perhaps you ought to rethink taking them to a restaurant til they're better behaved. My parents always instilled good behaviour in my brothers and I during dinner time, so when they took us to restaurants, we sat still and didn't make loads of noise.

[drunkenwildmage]

Hmmm..Next time I'm in Carolina , I'll have to look this place up....

I've always believed that restaurants should have a "Kids" and "No Kids" Sections, divided off with an fairly heavy wall for the noise..

[blas87]

Unfortunately, you can't do that because of discrimination.....ya know, cuz kids are important people and everything has to be suitable for children! Err, except bars and that's sad. I don't want to have to be around rowdy loud adults just to escape rowdy loud children.

Nothing makes me more angry than children shrieking and obnoxiously singing loudly or just being loud because they can and their parents are either ignoring them or encouraging them.

[KitterCat]

I have kids and I love it! Especially since it’s a sit down restaurant. If your kids being a little hellion of course they should be taken out. After all how else are they going to learn to use their indoor voice unless there are repercussions? If its an adult we call it making a disturbance and they have to leave. Same should be said if it’s a child. I’d give a rare exception to a baby simply because sometimes there’s nothing you can do to make them stop crying, but even then people should have some courtesy to those around them and leave.

My own little one is being taught that there are some places that he can make as much noise as he wants while we are out to eat, such as the park or McD’s, and then there are other places he needs to stay in his seat and use his indoor voice. Like TGI Fridays or friends houses. Why some people cant understand that they need to teach their child manners this is beyond me.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Hmmm..Next time I'm in Carolina , I'll have to look this place up....

I've always believed that restaurants should have a "Kids" and "No Kids" Sections, divided off with an fairly heavy wall for the noise..

We used to have those; cept they were labled "Smoking Section" and "Non Smoking Section". I always used to ask to be seated in Smoking, if there was one available, simply cuz that area was child free.

[IDrinkaRum]

Has anyone read the comments left on the story? Talk about Entitlement Parents!

Let me tel you, when I was growing up, my parents made sure my sister & myself knew how to talk in doors and out of doors.

None of this "Kids will be kids and if they want to yell, you should let them".

[Skelly]

Has anyone read the comments left on the story? Talk about Entitlement Parents!

Let me tel you, when I was growing up, my parents made sure my sister & myself knew how to talk in doors and out of doors.

None of this "Kids will be kids and if they want to yell, you should let them".

I think it's a fair bet to assume that the commenters who bitch and whines about it are the ones who know that their children behave like tweaked out howler monkeys.

[Anthony K. S.]

Has anyone read the comments left on the story? Talk about Entitlement Parents!

Indeed.

As expected, some people were complaining about the restaurant "banning children."

You know . . . You folks know how Sucky Customers always seem to believe that ALL customers are just like them?

They don't realize that their SC-behavior is, by far, the exception . . . SCs always assume that their views and conduct are the norm.

By the same token, parents who let their children scream and run wild, use the "Kids will be kids" excuse, and think anything that their little darlings do is just soooo cute . . . My guess is that they believe that their parenting methods are perfectly normal, and that their children's behavior is perfectly normal. They assume everybody is just like them.

So when a restaurant refuses to tolerate screaming children, these parents view it as the restaurant refusing to tolerate ANY children. I think that's where the complaints about restaurants "banning children" come from.

From the Comments :

Has anyone ever thought that maybe the reason the restaurant has so many screaming kids is because the service is slow. When kids are hungry they become agitated.

This comment took me by surprise, although it really shouldn't have.

So now it's the restaurant's fault that these children are screaming. If you're feeling agitated by the kids screaming their heads off, you shouldn't be annoyed at the parents, you should be angry at the restaurant for not getting them their food faster!

From the Comments :

I'm the mom of a toddler and no we aren't silent when we eat. Dinner for us, is family time. That means talking and sometimes a toddler meltdown. Get over it people! I'm not keeping my son at home just because God forbid... we might disturb someone else. I'll be posting about this on my blog and be happy to keep my business and those of people I know at restaurants where families are welcome.

This pretty much sums up the attitude of the entitled parents.

"That's the way kids are, that's the way families are, that's how we do things, and if you don't like it, tough!"

Selfish enough to ruin other people's evenings for the sake of preserving their own, and entitled enough to view themselves as the injured party if anybody ever complains.

This woman thought she was punishing the restaurant by taking her business elsewhere. She doesn't seem to understand that, since parents like her are the ones causing this problem, "taking her business elsewhere" is probably just want the restaurant wants her to do.

On a side note, don't you just love it when people threaten to post something on their blogs?

Oh, no, please, for the love of all that is good and pure and holy in the world, not on your blog! Please don't post this on your blog!

Why, a whole five or ten people might read it!

[XCashier]

I've always believed that restaurants should have a "Kids" and "No Kids" Sections, divided off with an fairly heavy wall for the noise..

Well-behaved kids don't want to deal with screaming brats, either.

I'm the mom of an eight-year-old boy who can get a bit goofy, but he knows that he is not to yell indoors. He keeps his voice at conversation level and will tone it down if someone tells him to. It's not rocket science; it's training a child in the way he ought to behave. You know, the lost art of parenting.

Unless a child is injured or in danger, there is no reason for him or her to screech while indoors (they really don't need to do it outdoors either, but it's more tolerable without walls to echo off of). I don't know where the idea of "let the child shriek like a banshee" came from, but it needs to be stopped.